Race . All that, plus banned, the major move by one state against flavored ecigarettes to combat americas vaping epidemic. Celebrating a pioneer, tributes pour in for legendary journalist and author, Cokie Roberts. This morning well remember our friend and colleague. And voice of change, pop superstar celine dion opens up in an exclusive interview about love, loss, and the exciting new chapter in her life. I know that this is what i was meant to do in life. Today, wednesday, september 18th, 2019. From nbc news, this is today with Savannah Guthrie and hoda kotb. Live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. Hey, everybody, welcome to today on this wednesday morning. Thank you for joining us. Savannah still under the weather. This bug will not let her go. If shes watching, get better, get well. Our top story, parts of the south braced for rain and heavy flooding after a system that developed into a Tropical Storm made landfall in texas. Dylan is tracking that, and also theres some other trouble in the tropics. Good morning. Good morning, guys, that Tropical Storm became in just 15 minutes a Tropical Storm and then it made landfall yesterday afternoon. Lets take a look at how active it is. We have that system in texas, imelda, and Tropical Storm jerry, and a major hurricane, humberto, will basically be a threat just to bermuda. For right now we have to worry about the rain falling south of houston and east of houston. As it rotates around, its not moving all that much. When you have the training of the heavy rain in the same area, that could lead to some flooding risks. The storm itself moving north at 5 miles per hour, so its going to slowly move through texas and continue to bring the rain across eastern texas, so we do have flash flood watches, even flash flood warnings in bay city right now. Again, mostly south of houston where the rain has been falling. It has been falling at rates of 3 inches per hour. Thats a lot of water in a short period of time. South of houston, we have picked up 12 to 15 inches of rainfall. Southern houston, about 5 inches of rain. It is a segregated line of where were seeing the heavier rain. We could see some areas pick up to 18 inches of rain and that would be especially east of houston as we go through the next 24 hours. Here is major hurricane humberto, a category 3 storm, staying to the north of bermuda, keeping with it the strongest of the winds. We are still looking at some threat of the rain to bermuda, could see 6 inches in some areas, and also storm surge. As for winds it should be a minor event for bermuda as that storm passes to the north. Also breaking overnight, new developments tied to that attack on Saudi Oil Facilities. Overnight, iran issuing a new warning to the United States even as secretary of state mike pompeo traveled to the region to confront the crisis. Nbcs chief global correspondent bill neely joins us from tel aviv. Good morning to you. Reporter good morning, craig. More pressure and new sanctions on iran. The president suggesting they will be substantial. The First Response to what the u. S. And saudi arabia say is growing evidence that the attacks on those Saudi Oil Facilities came directly from iran. Crucial talks today for the secretary of state mike pompeo with saudi leaders. Theyve been examining evidence of the attack from Satellite Photos and Cruise Missile debris. U. S. Intelligence indicates the attack came from iran. Officials telling nbc news low altitude Cruise Missiles were fired from at least one location in western iran. The u. S. Ready to defend its saudi ally. We dont want war with anybody. But the United States is prepared. Were locked and loaded. Saudi Officials Say theyll show evidence told implicating iran so far there is no definitive public evidence. The pentagon is cautioning against striking iran but has given President Trump a list of possible targets there i think the president needs to act now, and he needs to act with partners in a fashion so the iranians will not do this ever again reporter irans president again denied this morning it attacked saudi arabia. He pledged to respond immediately if it was attacked that may threaten israel, where theres real uncertainty this morning over who will lead the country. Election results suggesting Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahus future is in doubt overnight, he didnt claim victory but didnt concede to his main rival benny gantz they are neck in neck. Both are hawks on iran, which controls militias on israels borders. Netanyahu campaigned as if President Trump was his running mate, and the president has made no secret he prefers israels longest serving leader to a political novice who once led israels army. Instability, uncertainty across the mideast this morning and with most of the votes counted here, it is still too close to call. Both men not negotiating with the smaller parties, each trying to form a Coalition Government but that could take days maybe even weeks, guys. Back to that attack on saudi arabias oil fields, the instability and uncertainty that you just mentioned there, any new details on what that could mean for gas prices here in this country . Reporter well, they are going up an average of 0. 03 a gallon yesterday alone. The saudis say it will be the end of the month before their production gets back to full capacity so that does mean, im afraid, more pain at the pumps analysts saying an average perhaps of 0. 20 a gallon rise is likely. Craig, back to you bill neely, thank you. Back here at home our nbc news wall street journal poll shows a tightening at the top of the democratic president ial race take a look here joe biden remains in the lead but senator Elizabeth Warren has surged since the last debate shes now just six points behind the frontrunner and well ahead of senator Bernie Sanders whos in third there weve got it all covered this morning starting with nbcs Peter Alexander whos at the white house. Good morning. Reporter good morning to you. These latest numbers coming after last weeks debate, making it increasingly clear that on the democratic side at least for the moment it is a twoperson race with Elizabeth Warren narrowing the gap with joe biden. This morning a democratic faceoff, joe biden tightening his grip atop the field at 31 according to the new nbc news wall street journal poll up 5 points since july Elizabeth Warren narrowly trailing the former vp, continuing her steady climb up 6 points to 25 . Its going to take millions of people pushing from the outside, and its going to take somebody leading from the inside to make the kind of big structural change. Warren supporters the poll finds the most energized about her candidacy. 35 of democratic primary voters say they are enthusiastic about warren, compared to 23 who say they are enthusiastic about biden. That energy on display this week with thousands packing a new york city park. Theres a lot at stake in this election, and i know people are scared but we cant choose a candidate we dont believe in just because were too scared to do anything else democrats divided by ideology, race and age, biden, the leader among moderates, africanamericans and older primary voters the bad news is i have been around a long time the good news is i have been around a long time you all know me. I have never not been with you. Warren enjoying an advantage with liberals and white, President Trumps campaign is ramping up its attacks on biden highlighting a series of recent verbal stumbles. Excuse me, make sure you have the record player on at night. This video questioning the 76yearold democrats fitness for office, a potentially risky line of attack for the current commander in chief with a pattern of misrepresentations. So peter whos up, whos down in the rest of the poll, how does it play out. Lets show you the rest of the numbers, behind biden and warren, Bernie Sanders at 14 , Pete Buttigieg in fourth place at 7 , and Kamala Harris has dropped 8 points since july. Now at 5 . And climbing on to the board, businessman andrew yang at 4 . Democratic voters are not locked into their picks 9 of those polled say their minds are definitely made up Peter Alexander at the white house thank you. Now to fireworks on capitol hill at the hearings the president s former Campaign Manager, Corey Lewandowski in the hot seat Kristen Welker has that story. Reporter good morning to you. Many House Democrats were hoping tuesdays hearing with Corey Lewandowski would get them one step closer to impeachment proceedings against President Trump. It all became chaotic quickly and the path forward is uncertain. There were fireworks from the start as the president s former Campaign ManagerCorey Lewandowski clashed with House Democrats. For the democrats, it was their first chance to question a witness from the Mueller Investigation as they determine whether to move forward and impeach President Trump. This is a coverup plain and simple reporter the white house instructed lewandowski not to disclose his conversations with the president or to go beyond what the Mueller Report has already revealed i recognize this is not my privilege but i am respecting the white houses decision. Reporter a move democrats derided as stonewalling since lewandowski has never worked at the white house. Volume 2, page 90, is it correct as reported in the Mueller Report on june 19th, 2017, you met alone in the oval office with the president. Could you read the exact language of the report, i dont have it available to me. I dont think i need to do it and i have limited time. Reporter there were key moments, in one instance, lewandowski refusing to answer if President Trump offered him a pardon in another lewandowski confirming mr. Trump had asked him to pressure Jeff Sessions to limit the scope of the russia investigation but its a message lewandowski said he never delivered. You chickened out. I went on vacation. You didnt think that was illegal to obstruct justice. The president has not asked me to do anything illegal. Reporter frustration from the democrats boiling over. Your behavior in the hearing room has been completely unacceptable. Reporter republicans dismissing it all as political theater. What they do is spend valuable Committee Time that we could be spending on other important things on this fake faux impeachment so kristen, where do democrats go now, where do they go from here. Reporter thats a very good question, craig. We know that democrats are still deeply divided some feel as though lewandowski bolstered the argument for impeachment proceedings by stonewalling others feel theres not enough there. One thing is cer zz e is not going to cooperate. In fact, officials here have already blocked former officials from testifying. Now as for Corey Lewandowskis future, he is considering a possible run for senate in new hampshire, clearly saw yesterday as a way to capitalize in fact, he tweeted out a link to a new website with his name during one of the breaks craig. Hoda. Kristen welker at the white house. Thank you. To americas vaping epidemic, amid growing fears over that Mysterious Illness linked to ecigarettes one state is taking a dramatic step to curb teen vaping nbcs Morgan Radford is here with details good morning. Good morning, new york is making it official, banning the sale of flavored ecigarettes. The move is a direct response to the growing number of teens who are vaping and possibly paving the way for a nationwide ban this morning, flavored ecigarettes up in smoke. Im not waiting for the federal government to come protect the people of the state of new york. Reporter with new york becoming the first state to ban the sale of flavored ecigarettes, everything except menthol and tobacco flavors, part of an effort to tackle the rise of teenage use. The flavored products are highly attractive to young people names like bubble gum, cotton candy. Capn crunch. Reporter a move that has some vaping advocates fuming. The ban coming after another death with a severe breathing illness. A 40yearold california man dying from severe pulmonary injury the 7th death in the u. S. Along with hundreds of illnesses linked to vaping the cdc investigating 380 cases across 36 states going as far as activating its Emergency Operations center which will provide more staff and resources for the problem. Back to that flavored ecigarette ban, the governor of michigan ordered a similar ban earlier this month, but that has yet to take effect as for new york, the ban here is immediate. And local Health Departments will begin conducting visits to enforce it, and that comes early next month. Morgan radford, thank you. Thanks, morgan. A group of beachgoers and rescuers worked together to save six orcas that were found stranded on a beach in argentina. Firefighters and marine biologists were joined by some good samaritans. They managed to pull those massive whales that weigh up to 6 tons they managed to pull them back to safety. One orca did not make it theyre not sure why the orcas beached themselves but they showed no signs of illness once they were back out to sea, the boat guided the whales out so they would not return to shore. Good people on the beach, right. Good people everywhere. Speaking of good people, we have dylan dreyer checking out the weather. Not so bad yourself lets take a look at whats going on down south. We have record high temperatures where its not raining, the one area we wont see those record highs will be across eastern and southeastern texas where we do have the heavy rain with that tropical depression imelda producing mass amounts of rain we have rain in the Pacific Northwest, its showery, cool and we are looking at a couple popup thunderstorms through the midwest. Cool in the northeast, temperatures in new york city not even breaking 70 degrees today. You go a little farther south and we should be in the mid to upper 70s in the mid atlantic. Thats a look at the weather across the country well get to your local forecast in the next 30 seconds ernie rubber duckie cookie what about a broken cookie jar . burke again, cookie . cookie yeah. Me bad. grover yoooooow oh what about monsters having accidents . I am okay by the way burke depends. Did you cause the accident, grover . grover cause an accident . Maybe. bert how do you know all this stuff . burke just comes with experience. all muppets yup. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum good morning, im meteorologist kari hall. We have light rain moving through the north bay and approaching the rest of the bay area with a quick moving round of showers, now moving through marin county and approaching san rafael. As we go into the rest of the day, that continues to quickly move through, and well also have partly to mostly cloudy skies, breezy winds and highs in the upper 70s and low 80s for the inland areas. Going into the rest of the forecast, we will be warming up and look at society, were up to 92. Slightly coming down on sunday and then heating up again early next week. Thanks, dylan. Coming up, moving message, the debut of a powerful new psa thats really taking on gun violence in our cotrys schools. And remembering Cokie Roberts. Were going to pay tribute to our friend and colleague she was a real trailblazer for women in journalism and in washington but first, this is today on nbc. We are here to discuss jessies online time. And out of respect, we will let you make the first offer. Thirty minutes. Thirty minutes . Objection overruled. One hour. Sweeten the deal by doing the dishes and ill consider it. I wouldnt do it. I hate the dishes. One hour with the tablet, you walk the dog and do the dishes. If you insist. Congratulations. Only xfinity xfi lets you take control of your familys online time. Thats simple, easy, awesome. Xfinity xfi gives you the speed, coverage and control you need. Manage your wifi network from anywhere when you download the xfi app today. Still ahead this morning, from the drink of summer to say it aint so, a fall shortage, hoda kotb, a new proof that the hard seltzer craze is far from over. And an interview with celine dion in overcoming the loss of her husband and a start her music career but first, your local news. The fragrance is just phenomenal. In our boldest trial,. The fragrance is just 3 out of 4 women recommend dove cool essentials. I think that i might be a convert. Would you switch to our dove antiperspirant . All day protection. Soft and smooth underarms. Emreplenished,d, fortified. Emerge everyday with emergenc. Packed with b vitamins, electrolytes, antioxidants, plus more vitamin c than 10 oranges. Why not feel this good every day . Emerge and see. sigh crunch babybel that snack just sounded boring. Babybel coming through. No photos, please. Babybel bye bye, bland. 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